The prefecture on Tuesday launched a website with what it calls the world’s first “cat’s-eye view” street map, through which users can explore some locations in Onomichi city from a more grounded perspective.

“We were seeking to introduce a different way to look at our cities and offer a view of the streets that wasn’t available before,” a Hiroshima tourism official said. They decided on a cat’s-eye view because Onomichi, a port town known for its large number of cats, is also home to a museum dedicated to Japan’s ‘maneki-neko’ cat dolls, the official said.

The prefecture said it used 360-degree cameras similar to those used for the street-view maps created by Google Inc.

The map now covers a shopping arcade and surrounding areas in Onomichi, which is about 70 kilometers east of Hiroshima city. It includes most features seen on other interactive online maps, such as camera angle functions and details about local shops. It also has a selection of 11 pet cats kept in the area with links to their backgrounds.

The prefecture will add more locations to the map in October, including the Misode Shrine area in Onomichi.

Corrections & Amplifications

Hiroshima Prefecture said that for its “cat’s-eye view maps” it used cameras similar to those used for Google Inc.’s street-view maps. An earlier version of this post incorrectly said the prefecture teamed up with technicians who worked on Google’s maps. (Sept. 4, 2015)